On Monday, November 2, it was reported by the sports section of a major British newspaper that anonymous sources revealed Chinese tennis player Peng Shuai has been living quietly in Beijing, with only a few close relatives aware of her whereabouts. It has been reported that she attended a pickleball tournament in April, an event that many have found surprising given her recent history.
Five years ago, in November, Peng Shuai made headlines when she posted a message on the Chinese social media platform Weibo, revealing that she had been sexually assaulted and abandoned by former Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli. Following that shocking revelation, she disappeared from public view for almost five years.
In her account, Peng stated that her relationship with Zhang began over a decade ago, and she detailed the emotional turmoil that ensued. She accused Zhang of coercing her into a sexual encounter at his residence in Beijing after his retirement, while his wife stood guard outside.
Shortly after her explosive post, it was removed by Weibo’s officials, and any related keywords and search results were completely blocked and strictly censored across major Chinese social media platforms such as Weibo and Baidu.
According to the sources, one reason for Peng’s continued low profile is that she has severed ties with other Chinese players in the sport.
Previously, Peng had reached the pinnacle of women’s doubles, holding the title of world number one, and was ranked 14th in singles. She performed notably well in Grand Slam tournaments, reaching the Round of 16 in both the Australian Open and Wimbledon, and making it to the semifinals at the US Open.
The scandal she exposed is regarded as one of the most significant “Me Too” incidents in China, being the first publicly acknowledged case where a victim directly implicated a high-ranking Chinese Communist Party official in misconduct. Soon after her public statement, she lost all contact with the outside world. Remarkably, even the term “tennis” was temporarily banned from being mentioned on Weibo.
Under pressure from international public opinion, videos and photos of Peng began to surface through some official Chinese channels about a week later. However, these carefully staged releases failed to satisfy anyone, leading the topic hashtag #WhereIsPengShuai to gain significant traction on social media, garnering support from numerous top players in the tennis world, including the so-called “Big Four” of men’s tennis at the time.
In August 2022, after a discussion with David Haggerty, the president of the International Tennis Federation, Peng has not made any public appearances.
Subsequently, she began to claim that she had never been sexually assaulted and asserted that the ensuing controversy had stemmed from misunderstandings.
Because of a lack of accessible contact from the outside world, alongside her never appearing outside China, many speculate that her statements might have been made under duress.
Since 2021, there have been no media interviews with Peng. The closest an interviewer has come was during the 2022 Winter Olympics when a prominent sports publication conducted a one-hour interview with her at a hotel. This interview was handled by a senior athletics journalist, who considered the odds of being chosen by the Chinese authorities to conduct an interview with Peng as exceedingly slim—around one in twelve million.
After discussing the Winter Olympics for approximately 20 minutes, the journalist shifted the dialogue towards the Zhang Gaoli incident. Due to the stringent COVID policies at the time, Peng wore a mask, making it difficult for observers to gauge her expressions. The journalist recalled that he could tell from her eyes that she seemed more cautious when answering the question regarding Zhang.
The content of this interview mirrored what Peng had previously claimed in an interview with a Singaporean outlet, insisting that her earlier posts had been misunderstood.
In a seemingly unexpected appearance on April 9, 2026, Peng was seen at a JOOLA pickleball exhibition event, which featured the top-ranked pickleball player Ben Johns and tennis legends Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf at the National Tennis Center in Beijing. Reliable sources indicated that Peng attended the event with friends, but not in an official capacity.
The report concluded by stating that while any public appearance is better than none, many questions regarding Peng’s freedom and personal situation remain unanswered. This mystery appears unlikely to be resolved in the near future, and may potentially never be fully uncovered.